January Ratings: Big 3 on MSNBC Remain 2nd

MSNBC’s 7-10pmET trio of Hardball with Chris Matthews, Countdown with Keith Olbermann and The Rachel Maddow Show finished #2 on cable news in the A25-54 demo, ahead of CNN (and behind FNC). This is the 11th consecutive month in 2nd for Countdown, and the fourth in a row for Maddow and Hardball.

Hardball at 7pmET and Countdown at 8pmET also each finished 2nd in Total Viewers. Compared to January 2008, “Maddow” at 9pmET is the fasted growing cable news show in the hour.

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MSNBC continues to dominate CNN in primetime, with “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” out-rating CNN’s “Campbell Brown: No Bias No Bull” among A25-54 for the 11th consecutive month, while “Hardball with Chris Matthews” and “The Rachel Maddow Show” out-rated CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” and “Larry King Live” for the fourth consecutive month. Since launching in September 2008, “The Rachel Maddow Show” is out-rating “Larry King Live” by 11 percent among A25-54 (570,000 vs. 514,000).

Following are MSNBC ratings higlights for January:

“Countdown with Keith Olbermann” out-rated CNN’s “Campbell Brown” by 20 percent among A25-54 in January (480,000 vs. 399,000) and by 12 percent in total viewers (1,416,000 vs. 1,268,000). This is the eleventh consecutive month that “Countdown” has out-rated CNN at 8 p.m. “Countdown” was up 39 percent among A25-54 vs. Jan 08 and up 56 percent in total viewers.

“The Rachel Maddow Show” continues to knock the crown from “Larry King Live,” out-rating CNN by 16 percent among A25-54 in January (454,000 vs. 390,000). This is the fourth consecutive month that “Rachel Maddow” has out-rated “Larry King Live” and, launch to date, “Rachel Maddow” is out-rating “Larry King” by 11 percent. In January 09, “Rachel Maddow” is up 139 percent among A25-54 (454,000 vs. 190,000) and up 186 percent in total viewers (1,325,000 vs. 463,000) versus 9 p.m. in Jan. 08, the fastest growing cable news show in the hour.

“Hardball with Chris Mathews” at 7 p.m. out-rated CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” for the fourth consecutive month in January among A25-54 (273,000 vs. 267,000) and was up 56 percent from Jan. 08 (273,000 vs. 175,000). “Hardball” also out-rated CNN in total viewers (946,000 vs. 938,000) and was up 82 percent from Jan. 08.

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